This study used the methods of ethnography of commu-work planning process (WPP). In short, the interest was nication to explore the information behavior in sense in discovering how the individuals separately and in conmaking of participants in the annual work planning of a sort made sense of their situation and in making sense unit of a public agency. To capture the dynamic time how they defined, sought, and used information.
aspects of the work-planning task, the study continued There are many choices in conducting and reporting over three annual iterations of this work-planning process. The term sense making is used to convey the partisuch a study. Research is a creative process that builds cipants' characterization of their information behavior. on a foundation of interests, ideas, anomalies, questions, This article explores the sense making that took place and intuitions; takes advantage of opportunities; and from the point of view of time and timing. The analysis works around barriers and constraints. Research is also a revealed broad patterns of repetitive action that structured the work-planning process and limited or focused struggle to balance the necessity for summary and reducfuture action. Data was repeatedly collected early in the tion with the need to communicate enough about methods annual process, requiring subsequent and repeated upand interpretations to allow readers to judge, while, hopedating and verification. A computer database of project fully, encouraging them to develop their own insights.
information focused data collection and processing on
The research process itself is framed by the decisions that details that were never used and neglected others that required independent data collection, processing, and researchers make regarding their questions of concern and display. Such findings suggest the role that time plays the methods that support investigation of those questions.
in capturing meaning from data that has a time value.
The interaction of questions and methods is influenced
Understanding of the role of time suggests some possiby decisions of focus, situation, duration, and tempo.
ble approaches for improving information management and the design of information systems.